First Drive: 2010 Suzuki Swift

The Not Quite World Car

Suzuki says the Swift is its world small car. But an engineer concedes it won't quite meet North American crash regulations. Not yet. It appears that for now, "world" as in world car means everywhere except North America. The exact opposite of "world" as in World Series, then.But we're not completely convinced the new Swift won't ever get its green card. The body structure is all-new, and it uses a lot of high-strength steel to make five stars in the Euro NCAP tests, indicating that U.S. crash compliance wouldn't be impossible to engineer. In addition, ESP and seven airbags are standard in Europe, including one for the driver's knees.If it came to the States, the Swift would make an able challenger to the Toyota Yaris -- a simple, honest, and fun-to-drive little car at a good price.

Mind you, it would need to be lower-priced than where Ford pitches the Fiesta. The Swift doesn't have stylish near-premium cabin of the Ford. The dash is well-assembled but uses thin hard plastics. Its design is a bit conservative too, but neat and easy to use.Outside, the wedgy belt line, blackened A-posts, and tapering glasshouse give the Swift strong definition in profile. But if you chiseled Suzuki's gothic S off the nose, it's an entirely generic and unmemorable front elevation.

The first Swift versions to be launched in Europe run with two engines completely unsuited to U.S. drivers - a 1.3-liter diesel, and a tiny 1.2-liter gasoline mill. A 1.6 Sport version follows next year, so we know a bigger and more U.S.-friendly engine does fit under the Swift's stubby hood.The 1.2 has variable timing for both camshafts, suggesting a broad torque curve. Well, yes, but it's a curve that never gets far off the ground. You have to use every last drop of the meager power by constantly flirting with the red line, your right hand a blur as you continually shift gears. That's O.K. It's a reasonably slick box, and the engine revs out smoothly and quietly. That's just as well. At a perfectly normal European motorway speed of 85 mph, the engine's little pistons are whipping up and down at 4200 rpm.The previous model Swift used a 1.3-liter gas engine. This new, smaller engine finds fractionally more power at 92 horsepower, not at all bad for its displacement. The biggest selling point for a car like the Swift is gas mileage, and in the European drive cycle it improves from 41 to 47 mpg -- more than competitive with its rivals in Europe. Don't compare these numbers to our EPA figure, however - the Euro cycle tends to be overly optimistic. But to compare directly on the Euro cycle, the Swift does about 10 percent better than a MINI Cooper. For city drivers, an idle-stop system is a handy option.

HELL! WE IN AMERICA CANT GET THE SWIFT EITHER IVE BEGGED AND BEGGED AND BEGGED STILL SUZUKI AMERICA HAS NOT ANSWERED OR CONFERMED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THE SWIFT!BRING IT HERE ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate to say it, but this thing just looks like a Nissan Altima/Kia Soul lovechild. Not to say it isn't good looking, as those are both attractive cars, but the headlights look straight off of the current-gen Altima and the greenhouse looks straight off of the Soul. Any place in those twos' DNA that looks like Suzuki didn't rip off, just fill in with Nissan Versa parts and that finishes the car.

Although I've never given this segment a lick of consideration, when compared to the other cars (sold here) from Japanese automakers, I think I like this one the most- too bad we're not getting it yet. From the photos, this car looks to be less budget-rental grade than the rest (Versa, Yaris!), which is undoubtedly a good thing for Suzuki.

Is this the image of the new versa? Everything says Versa;the look, trunk, front-end, back-end, interior and the suspension. They already cross-build the frontier/equator... Anyway, Nissan need to refresh the Versa, maybe with a 1.6l turbo from the Juke. The Swift+ needs to die anyway, so this new Swift needs to be sold here and they should bring back the GT version.

I think this would do well in Canada. Interestingly, in Canada, the new Kizashi is only offered with AWD+CVT, and all the options. Is Suzuki trying to appear upmarket here? If so, it is unlikely that we will see the Swift.

I think that the 1.6 liter engne should be the only one to get here, unless the 1.2 is really cheap. The Aveo is a much worse car and it sells. I really want Suzuki to start making good cars, they seem like if they took things seriousl they could make good cars.

"European drive cycle it improves from 41 to 47 mpg..."If another MT article give us a clue 47 MPG EU Combined Cycle may equal 31 MPG EPA COMBINED (1/3 less, if you're scoring out there), something like 27/37 numbers, which is ~ 1 MPG more than Corolla X 1.8L with its' 4-speed A/T.That's NOT COMPETITIVE with most other B-sized cars already on sale in NoAm, much less if you figure Swift's 1.2L 92hp is the least of all similar-size cars (only A-sized cars, like the FourTwo have less). As I've stated before, the Swift engine for this new platform has to achieve at least 105hp (500's will ship with a minimun 99hp) before being taken seriously. Also, Suzuki Auto goofed by not being able to design the new Swift with US-NHTSA standards in mind from the start. If this means the Swift might have to wait ANOTHER 4 YEARS to get to the US market, Suzuki may have to ask Auto Union for a version of its' new 1.4L Polo (VW can sell the Sedn and let Suzuki have the hatch versions) and get on with it...